Question 4 Will Boxing Suffer Another Judging Scandal?

Allegations of rigged judging and payoffs to judges have taintednearly every major international boxing event since the late1980s--and Sydney may be no different. The Cuban team walked outof the '99 world championships in Houston claiming the judgingwas biased against it. AIBA, the sport's governing body, has beenplagued by politics, scandal and skepticism.

That said, AIBA is at least trying to improve the sport's image.It reversed the decision that had robbed Cuban welterweight JuanHernandez of a gold medal in Houston and handed out four-yearsuspensions to four of the bout's five judges. Though AIBA voteddown several reform recommendations made by the IOC in 1997,including a suggestion that judges' scores be posted on ascoreboard after each round, it will for the first time use whatit calls "spy cameras" to monitor Olympic judges. These videocameras will record the action in the ring from each judge'sperspective; if supervisors suspect a judge of logging phonyhits--or failing to register hits, another common trick--theelectronic scoring data entered by that judge can be superimposedon the video. In addition a computer will track and analyze eachjudge's scoring patterns throughout the Games.

Judges have been warned that failure to report an attempt atbribery will result in their immediate suspension. "And if theycan prove [a payoff attempt]," says AIBA general secretary LoringBaker, "AIBA will give them double what the bribe offer was.That's double your money back for being honest."